


We Shine In The Night

by princeofpuns



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-08-11 15:15:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20155684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeofpuns/pseuds/princeofpuns
Summary: Casey Gardner starts her new life at her new school, Clayton Prep. Despite being recruited for their track program, Casey receives less than a warm welcome from her new teammates, especially the team captain. Can Casey survive this new school? Will Casey's new relationships break the old ones?





	1. New Kid From Newton

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. This is my first fic on AO3. If you can, please like and review. Would love to get feedback. I love the show and watched both seasons all in one day so I couldn't help but write this. I will try to post a new chapter every week. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!

I walked onto the campus of my new school. It was my first day at Clayton Prep, well besides when I visited for the peer interview. It somehow looked even more posh now that I was in the school uniform, that I was now technically one of them, even though I definitely wasn’t. I saw groups of people laughing and it made me miss Sharice and the rest of the Newton track team. I wished they were here but sadly I had to walk into that school all by myself. Someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a sort of familiar face. It was one of the girls from the Clayton Prep track team. It was the captain, I thought.

“Hey, you’re… Izzie, right?”  
“You may be on our track team now, new kid from Newton, but don’t think you’re hot shit. I know about you. You punched a girl in the face. I... we don’t need that kind of drama on the team.”  
“Got it. So, uh, I was told that you were going to show me around?”  
She pointed at the school. “Classes are in there.”

As quickly as she approached me, she was gone. I knew I was in for a real good time at this school. I walked inside and attempted to find my classroom but with no one helping me out, thanks to Izzie, who was now on my shit list, I was five minutes late. Everyone stared at me as I walked in. I hated when everyone was looking at me. 

“Everyone, this is our new student Casey.”

I waved weakly and the class mumbled “hi’s” and “hey’s” just as enthusiastically. I spotted an empty seat and quickly made my way there. I tried, I really did, to pay attention during that class, but it was biology, my least favorite subject, and it was much harder than biology at Newton. I even asked the girl next to me if they accidentally put me in AP Bio, but she told me it was just regular. My other classes weren’t going well either. Everything was so much harder here. Thankfully, at least, I had math. Math was always my best subject. They put me in Pre-Calculus here and even though it was harder like everything else, I didn’t mind because math came quickly to me. It always made sense to me even when nothing else did. Calc was my last class of the day and I was thankful to be done after that. It had been a really long day. I was excited to go to track practice when I remembered that I wouldn’t be practicing with Sharice and the girls. I skulked to the locker room and changed out of my stupid skirt and blazer into my track sweater and pants and went outside to find everyone already stretching. It was Izzie who noticed me first.

“You look tired, Newton.”

Newton? My name is fucking Casey, not Newton. Ugh, definitely on my shit list.

“Nope.”

Some of the other girls were talking about what they did over winter break, like going out of the country and that’s when I really started to feel out of place. My family was middle class, so we had some money, but we rarely ever took a vacation, though that might have been more about Sam than anything. But we definitely didn’t have the kind of money to go to Europe all the time. They asked me about my break and I lamely told them I went to Target a couple of times which just caused unpleasant laughter. Izzie kept eyeing me the entire time as we stretched and I made sure to give her my best stink eye. If she was going to be so awful, she could at least stop fucking looking at me. My day had been pretty awful so I decided I would just go run on my own. That was the best time I had all day. I loved the feeling of running alone, the cold winter breeze bracing my face. It was the only time when I could get myself to stop thinking. I could run for hours and think about absolutely nothing, and that was exactly what I needed after this supremely shitty day. I’m not sure how long I ran, but I eventually made my way back to the locker room so I could change and head home. Thankfully it was my dad who picked me up. I couldn’t deal with the she-devil that is my mother. My dad asked about my day and I told him how shitty it was, how mean Izzie was, how annoying the track girls were. He told me to just give it some time. Ugh. Not the answer I wanted to hear. I came home and went directly to my bedroom only to find my bed occupied by Sharice and my boyfriend Evan. My dad must have invited them over knowing how bad of a day I was having. I would have to thank him later. I dropped my backpack and flopped onto the bed in between them.

“Guys, Clayton is the worst. I hate it there.”  
“Give it time,” Evan said. I wanted to hit him with a pillow. First my dad, now him. I guess I should have expected Evan to say that.  
“You could always come back to Newton,” Sharice reminded me.  
“I wish. I should’ve never gone to Clayton. It’s awful. Everyone is so stuck up and the track captain, Izzie, is so mean.”  
“Come on, Case. It was only your first day. I’m sure it’ll get better.”  
“Nope, Casey. It’s going to get worse. You definitely need to come back to Newton.”  
“I can’t.”  
“I know. But I had to try.”

The three of us laid like that for some time just talking and laughing and they at least helped make the day not so terrible. They both left around 10 and I immediately fell asleep after that, thankfully, putting an end to my pretty horrible first day.


	2. Vanilla

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! Enjoy!

Clayton was intent on making my first week hell. Izzie was still being awful to me, though at least the rest of the team was alright. They mostly just talked about their ridiculous, rich lives and left me alone, which was the best I could expect at this point. Then this morning I couldn’t get my stupid locker to open up. I still didn’t have the combination memorized so I stared hard at my paper and tried the combo once more. It of course didn’t work again. A guy from behind me told me to try a different combination. I turned and looked at him skeptically but tried it and it worked much to my surprise. He informed me that that locker was actually his. I looked at the locker number and of course he was right. I was mortified. We chatted for a minute before I caught sight of that familiar dark hair that had been tormenting me since my first day here. Much to my surprise, she walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. 

“Bye Newton. Come on, let’s go Nate.”

Izzie dragged Nate away. He turned around and waved at me and I waved back. Just another reason for Izzie to be on my shit list. She took away the only person who had actually been nice to me at this fucking school. I was really not looking forward to track practice now because then I’d have to see her again. Ugh. I really need to do something to her for all the shit she’s given me. Something I can’t get in trouble for. Maybe I’ll put something in her locker tomorrow, like a worm or something. I don’t know. That’s a terrible plan. I’ll think of something better later. 

It was lunchtime and when I went into my locker, I realized I had forgotten to bring my lunch. I tried to get a lunch from the school, but they told me I needed to have some kind of points or whatever. What the fuck was that? Why couldn’t I just give them fucking cash? I left the cafeteria and went towards my locker when Nate saw me. 

“Hey. What’s up?”  
“Just learned that I can’t eat lunch because I don’t have a flex card, whatever the hell that is. So I’m stuck with the stale granola bar at the bottom of my bag and some peanuts I found in my pocket.” I was a bit disgusted with myself for that one, but what choice did I have.  
“This campus is actually nut-free.”  
“Oh my god. I seriously hate this place. It took me forever to find a bathroom.”  
“Yeah, I think they hide them on purpose.”

We chatted for another minute before the warning bell went off and we went to our different classes. By the end of practice, I was exhausted. This first week here at Clayton was killing me. I just wanted something to go my way, but the entire school, besides Nate, seemed hell-bent on making my life miserable. This couldn’t have been anymore obvious the next day at school.

I finally got a flex card and asked to get a slice of pizza. The guy swiped my card and told me I couldn’t get lunch for another 48 hours for some holding period. I was so frustrated that I could have screamed. I sat down at an empty table and tried to relax. From the corner of my eye, I saw a piece of pizza coming close to me. I turned around and saw it was Nate. I took the slice from him and immediately took a couple of bites. He sat down and set the pizza box on the table. 

“48 hour waiting period?”  
I nodded. Between bites I told him, “I will eat this whole thing. I’m so hungry.”  
“Go ahead.”  
“Thanks.”  
“And just so you know, the track team is really grateful that you’re here.”  
“Really? It doesn’t seem like it.”  
“They were super impressed when you broke that record. I just think Izzie’s a bit jealous because you’re faster than her.”  
“That… makes sense. But you probably shouldn’t be saying that about your girlfriend.”  
“I won’t say anything if you don’t.”

I didn’t eat the whole pizza but I had a couple more slices, otherwise I would have been too full before practice. We were finally going on the actual track for practice today since all the snow had finished melting. We started always started practice by running a few warm up laps around the track. I had been leading the group when Izzie started running a little faster to get ahead of me.

“You’re slowing down, Newton,” she said with a smirk.

Not one to be outrun, I got ahead of her quickly. It was this back and forth until we had reached near sprint and were a bit farther ahead of the rest of the group. The coach yelled and told us that it wasn’t a race, but neither of us cared. There was this unspoken competition between us and there would be a winner. I was pulling ahead when I heard a sharp inhale of breath behind me. I turned around and saw Izzie on the ground, clutching her wrist. 

“You pushed me!”  
“What? No. I… I didn’t. I didn’t.”

I looked around as the rest of the girls passed me. I pleaded with them to believe me but no one did. Our coach approached us quickly and pulled us into her office. We both argued our sides but no one saw exactly what happened so instead of picking a side, she told us that we needed to stay in her office until we could get along. The coach left and we just sat there for a bit, not talking. I didn’t want to say anything. First she’s a total ass to me for no reason, then she pulls this shit. What the hell?

“You pushed me. Admit it.”  
“I didn’t!” That came out louder than I meant and I noticed the way she flinched just slightly. I calmed my voice after that. “I didn’t.”  
“Ugh, whatever. Could you just grab my phone from my backpack? I need to make a call.”  
“Fine.”

I found her phone and handed it to her. She made the call and I couldn’t help but overhear her.

“Can you take care of the baby for a while longer?” She hung up kind of forcefully.  
I couldn’t help but ask. “Baby? You have a baby?”  
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no. I’ve got a good head on my shoulders. My mother, not so much. She’s usually too busy doing drugs or getting into it with her druggie boyfriends so I have to take care of my three siblings.”  
“Oh shit. I’m sorry. My brother has autism so I’m always watching out for him.”  
“I had no idea.”  
I moved to sit on the desk to face her. “Why would you?”

We were silent for a few moments and for the first time I felt like I could relax a bit around her.

“You’re… not what I expected,” I told her.  
“You’re not what I expected either. I’m not like the other girls on the team. They all can literally afford to screw up, but I can’t. My mom spends all our money on drugs and my scholarship is the only thing keeping me here. Did you know Penelope wrecked her car and her parents just bought her a brand new one? Or that Quinn keeps a bottle of vodka in her locker just for fun?”  
“What? No way!”  
Izzie suddenly stood up. “Hang on, I’ve got an idea. Be right back.”

She quickly left the room. It was weird. I actually didn’t want her to leave. That was something I never thought would happen. Usually I couldn’t stand to be near her and after just a few minutes of bonding, all that anger towards her was just gone. Maybe I’ll be able to look forward to track practice again now that I have someone on the team who gets me. She opened and closed the door but kept her hands behind her back.

“Guess what I’ve got?”

I shrugged. She revealed she was holding a bottle of vodka. I chuckled a bit.

“Quinn’s?”  
“Of course. She won’t even notice.”

We had some sips from the bottle and talked more about our families. I told her about everything that my mother did and she told me about her dad who left when she was seven. We talked about our boyfriends. She told me that she spends so much time with Nate mostly because she doesn’t want to go home and that things are fine, but they don’t feel quite right with him. I told her that I don’t feel like that about Evan, because I love him and he’s nice and caring. We talked about a bunch of other stuff and before we knew it, it was late and we were both pretty drunk. There wasn’t much left but Izzie gave me the rest of the bottle which I downed quickly. She walked me to the bus stop, gave me a hug, and left. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the cool winter air, but I was feeling a little tingly and lightheaded after she hugged me. I could still smell her vanilla body spray even after we said goodbye. The bus pulled up and pulled me out of my thoughts. By the time I got back, I realized that I was too drunk to go home. Sam would see me and say something or my dad would see me. I couldn’t go home, so I decided to go to Evan’s. It was Beth who answered the door. I told her I missed her so much and that I would punch Bailey Bennett’s face all over again if I could. I tried to dance with her but she wouldn’t dance with me so I went up to see Evan. He was playing video games but stopped when he saw me stumble into the room. I didn’t remember much after that because the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a bed that wasn’t my own. Christopher, my mom’s friend’s kid, said something to me but I just nodded and he went away. My mom came into the room and handed me a tylenol and some water which I gladly took as my head was throbbing. She told me I was grounded and then sent me back home. My parents weren’t exactly on good speaking terms since my mom decided to make my family implode so I decided to try and ride out the fact that my dad didn’t know I was grounded for as long as I could. I originally planned to use the weekend to hangout with Evan and maybe Izzie if she wasn’t busy, but then my dad had a really bad panic attack which we all thought was a heart attack at first. I didn’t talk to anyone but my family that weekend. I was so worried about my dad, and then my mom told my dad that I was drunk and I felt so much worse. I went to school on Monday and found Izzie waiting at my locker for me. 

“Newton, where ya been? I need you. My mom’s ex-boyfriend moved back in.”  
“I’m sorry. I had, life stuff.”  
She looked at me and waited until I finally said more. I told her about my dad and she gave me a hug. She still smelled like vanilla. It was comforting. She pulled away and I kind of missed having her close.  
“Dude, we’re so lucky we’re alive right now.”

Then Nate showed up.

“You know, I knew you two were going to fall in love.”

I wrapped my arm around Izzie and she wrapped hers around mine. I flipped him off and we walked away. We gave each other a hug goodbye and went to our classes. At lunch I was finally able to buy things from the cafeteria. I ate it but it wasn’t enough. I found Izzie and Nate and complained to them. Izzie told me I should have gotten the pizza but the pizza here might have been the worst pizza I’ve ever had. 

“I wish I could have pizza from this place back home. It’s so good. A million times better than what they’ve got here.”  
“We should go there,” Izzie said. “Us, the team, on Friday and check this place out.”  
“No, you don’t want to do that. It’s not actually that good and…”  
“It’ll be fun.” Izzie stood up and took Nate with her. She set her hand on my shoulder. “I’m looking forward to it.”

They both walked away. I sighed. I really didn’t want the team coming to Webster. They’re the kind of people that go to Europe over winter break, so I can only imagine the terrible things they would think about Webster. If it was just Izzie, I wouldn’t mind. She gets it and gets me, but the team, not so much. I couldn’t say no to her though, so I guess we would all be hanging out in Webster on Friday. Great.


	3. Best Breadsticks Ever

Friday had come and I was not ready for it. I told Evan about how the team wanted to come to Don’s and he asked if he could come. I didn’t want him to, not because I was embarrassed of him, but because I was afraid that the team would already see how dingy the place was and that they would hate Evan because he’s not a rich, prep school boy. He looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes so I told him he could come. The team had finished practice and we piled into a couple of cars and drove to Don’s. We got there and put a few tables together so everyone could sit. We all talked for a while before ordering some pizza and sodas. The team didn’t act as snooty as I thought they would. No one commented on the fact that it was a bit dirty and old. In fact, I was actually having a lot of fun talking with everyone when Evan showed up. He came to the table and said hi awkwardly. I jumped up to greet him. He tried to give me a kiss but I was too distracted trying to make sure everything went perfectly.

“Newton, is this him?” Izzie asked.  
“Yeah. Everyone, this is Evan. Evan, this is everyone.”  
He said hi uncomfortably again before he whispered to me. “What’s up with the Newton?”  
“Oh, that’s just their nickname for me.”

I pulled up a chair between me and Nate for Evan to sit. We all talked and laughed as we waited for the pizza. I was mostly talking with Izzie when I realized that Evan looked very uncomfortable. Nate seemed to try to help that but it didn’t go well.

“Did you know, I was her first friend at Clayton?”  
“What? No, I thought it was Izzie,” Evan said.  
Izzie and I chuckled at that. “No, I wasn’t. I was super mean to her at first.”  
“Yeah, you were so mean to me.”  
“I’m sorry I was so mean.” Izzie put her hand on my thigh and looked me in the eye. My stomach fluttered for a second but I didn’t think anything about it. “But I promise, I’m really nice now.”  
“Mostly…”

We both laughed at that. We all eventually finished eating when I noticed Evan acting antsy and eventually leaving after quickly saying goodbye to everyone. I followed after him. When we were outside, I grabbed his arm so he would turn around and look at me.

“What’s up Evan?”  
“Are you serious Case?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I just, I had to get out of there. All your friends, they’re so not like you. You were like a totally different person with them.”  
“What? No.”  
“It’s like you were embarrassed of me. You barely said anything to me. I had to talk to Nate instead, who was apparently your first friend there.”  
“I’m not embarrassed of you. They’re just different. And yeah I was friends with Nate first. He was nice and bought me lunch when I couldn’t get it myself, when Izzie and the track team were still giving me the cold shoulder.”  
“And you told them a bunch of personal stuff, stuff you don’t even tell me.”  
“I…”  
“Whatever Casey. Forget it. I’m going home.”

He went to his car after that and left me standing there. I wasn’t totally sure what had even happened. He was right. I guess I didn’t really talk much to him, but that’s because Izzie and I were just so caught up in the stories she told me about her life and the team. I probably should have told Evan about Nate, but I didn’t want him to get jealous because there was nothing going on between us and I didn’t really even think about it because not long after, Izzie and I became friends. Well, whatever. He will get over it soon. I decided to go back inside and hang out with the team until everyone decided to head back home. 

At home, I ignored whatever new family crisis was happening and went straight to my room. I threw herself onto the bed and covered my head with a pillow. Just when I finally started to relax a bit, Sam barged in talking about something going on in Antarctica but wasn’t in the mood at all.

“Out!” Sam didn’t budge. “Out now!” He still kept going. I finally had enough and threw the pillow I had over me at him. “Out!” 

Sam finally left after that. Ugh. I just needed to fucking think for a bit. Evan was acting fucking weird. I mean I get him being mad that I didn’t talk to him a bunch because okay, yeah, I probably should have since he didn’t know anyone besides me. But I tell Evan stuff. I mean he’s my boyfriend. And yeah, there’s a lot of stuff I’m embarrassed about, but I tell him it. I mean I don’t tell him all of it because he would just make fun of me. Like that’s what’s cool about Izzie. We told each other a bunch of embarrassing stuff about each other, and yeah, we laughed for a bit because some of that stuff is objectively funny, but she never made fun of me for any of it. Evan does. Ugh. I’m definitely mad at him now too. Fuck.

I rolled over onto my side and pulled out my phone. I had a message from Evan and from Izzie. I ignored Evan’s. 

'Dude. Cool pizza place! Best breadsticks ever! We’re going again next weekend right?'

I laughed to myself. Because of Evan, I had forgotten all the good that came out of this. The team didn’t hate it here, or at least they didn’t make fun of it in front of my face. And I had a really good time with all of them. I finally started to feel like I was fitting into the team.

'Yes. Definitely!'  
'Just us?'  
'For sure.'  
'Sorry again for being so mean to you. I was awful.'  
'It’s cool dude.'  
'It’s really not.'  
'Fine. You can make it up to me by paying for my pizza next Friday.'  
'You got it!'

Before I knew it, Izzie and I had stayed up texting until three in the morning.

'Dude. It’s 3 fucking am. I should go.'  
'Boooooooooo.'  
'Sorry. You know it takes me like an extra hour to get to school.'  
'I know. I know. I’m sorry. I was just having fun and don’t wanna go to sleep.'  
'Me neither. But you know how cranky I get if I don’t sleep.'  
'True. You get very cranky. I will let you get your beauty rest princess.'  
'Haha goodnight Izzie'  
'Night Newton'


	4. Nail in the Coffin

Besides the shit with Evan, everything else seemed to be going along well in my life for once. Me and Sam have been getting along well. I’ve only punched him a few times recently. The track team has been really cool. Izzie and I have been absolutely inseparable. I’ve even been getting along with my mom which never happens. So I guess something’s bound to go wrong sooner than later. I had gotten back from track practice about an hour ago so I showered and changed into my pajamas. I was heading into the kitchen to get a snack when I heard the doorbell ring. I opened the door and it was Izzie. Her eyes were red and puffy and she was still crying. I immediately pulled her into a hug. She cried on my shoulder for a bit before I pulled her inside and shut the door. She wiped away some of the tears and we sat down on the couch. 

“So my mom’s boyfriend is a dick. He was being aggressive and I told him to leave. I didn’t think he was going to listen so I took the kids and brought them to my grandma’s house, but she doesn’t have a lot of room there.”  
“Well you’re definitely staying here, okay?”

She nodded a thank you to me and hugged me again. Sam was walking past us so I tried to introduce Izzie to him, but he rushed off into his room. I grabbed Izzie’s hand and had her follow me upstairs. Sam was moving around his room frantically.

“What’s up Sam?”  
“I am sleeping over at Zahid’s to practice for the senior lock-in. I was wondering. Should I bring Edison? I want to bring him because what if I can’t sleep without the familiar sound of his footsteps? Or the smell of his food wafting through the tank vents?”  
“Edison should stay here, but you should take his food with you. That way you can remind yourself of the way Edison smells,” Izzie told Sam.

Sam liked that idea, grabbed the food, put it in his backpack and left. I was impressed. Izzie already seemed really good with Sam and she had just met him. After Sam left, Izzie wanted to see my bedroom. I was a little nervous to let her in but she rushed ahead of me before I could stop her. Thankfully it was pretty clean, just some of my school stuff lying about. 

“You have a really nice room. I love it.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Yeah. It’s awesome!”

Suddenly I thought of a really good idea.

“Wanna build a fort?”  
“A fort?”  
“Yeah, like a blanket fort, downstairs. We can make it super comfy and pretend like there’s no one else in the world but the two of us.”  
“That sounds perfect actually.”

I handed Izzie all the blankets I could grab from my room and grabbed all the blankets from the closet before we went downstairs. After about thirty minutes, the fort was done.

“Do you have any scary books? My nana would read me scary books whenever I needed to get my mind off things.”  
“Yeah. Totally.” I walked over to our bookshelf. “How about Stephen King? It?”  
“Sounds good.”

I grabbed the book and a flashlight and we laid down inside the fort. I turned the flashlight on under my chin to attempt to make it spookier and began to read to her. We made it a couple chapters in before we both started to get freaked out. I paused and looked at Izzie who had her hands covering her eyes. She peeked out a bit.

“I don’t think I can do it anymore. I can’t listen to anymore.”  
“It’s cool. I was getting spooked too.” I set the book and flashlight down.   
“Thanks Case, for all of this, the fort, reading to me, everything. I really appreciate it.”  
“Case? I thought I was Newton.”  
She nudged her shoulder against mine playfully. “You are, Newton. I just really needed this. It really got my mind off of everything.”  
“We could stay in here forever if you want. We could make a bathroom in that corner, we could get cats to keep us company.  
Izzie shifted a bit. “This might be super lame, but you’re my new favorite person.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah.”

I smiled at that. It was nice to be someone’s favorite and I was glad that the feeling was mutual. She had become my best friend so quickly so how could she not be?

“You’re my new favorite person too.”

There was a knock on the door. I was confused about who would be knocking at like nine on a Wednesday, but Izzie knew.

“I’m sorry. I totally forgot. I invited Nate.”  
“Ugh boys ruin everything.”

We got out of our fort and answered the door and let Nate in. Izzie suggested we watch a movie even though I knew she would pass out immediately, which she did. So it was just Nate and me watching this movie. He asked about Evan and I told him things were weird because they were. I didn’t really know what to think of what was happening with him, well not that anything was really happening. He sent a couple of texts since the incident on Friday but I hadn’t answered any of them. I was taken out of my thoughts when I saw Nate lean in and kiss me. I immediately pushed him away and stood up off the couch.

“What the hell, dude?”  
“Oh, come on, admit it, there’s totally something going on between us.”  
“No, there’s not. You’re my best friend’s boyfriend.”

He tried to argue with me more but I wasn’t having any of it and kicked him out. After I shut the door, I looked back at the couch where Izzie was. She was still dead asleep which was good. She needed her sleep. I paced around for some time, not sure what to do. I wanted to tell Izzie what happened but I was scared. I didn't want to lose her. I couldn't lose her. She started stirring and I came back to the couch. 

"Mm, what happened?"  
"The movie ended… so I sent Nate home."  
"Okay. Can we go up to your room? I'd like to sleep on a bed."  
"Yeah of course. Let's go."

We went back up to my room and Izzie fell immediately back to sleep after she was covered in many blankets. I, however, laid there wide awake. I couldn't help but replay every interaction I've had with Nate in my head. I tried to think if I ever did anything to lead him on but I never even flirted with him. Even before I knew he was dating Izzie, I didn't flirt with him. I was just being nice and so was he. I hoped and hoped that Izzie would believe me when I told her about it tomorrow. 

The whole time we were getting ready for school I tried to muster up the courage to tell Izzie what happened but I just couldn't do it. I really wanted to tell her because I wanted to be honest, but I was still so scared. I wasn’t ready to lose her. So I didn’t tell her. I did, however, decide to write her a note. That way I could tell her what happened but not have to do it face to face. After class, I went to her locker and tried to sneak the note in but she caught me.

“Newton, you writing me a love note?”  
“What? No. I…” I pulled the note out and tried to put it away, but Izzie wrestled it out of my hands before I had the chance. “I was going to tell you in person but I was too chicken-shit.”

I waited for Izzie to read the note explaining what happened.

“You and Nate kissed?”  
“No. He kissed me.” I pointed to where I said that on the note.  
“That asshole. What the fuck?”  
“Do you, uh, wanna talk about it?”  
“No, I just need some time.”  
“Oh, okay.”

She smiled at me before leaving. I just stood by her locker for a bit, not knowing what to do. She believed me so at least there’s that. But still, things felt weird now and I didn’t like it. 

After practice, I finally decided to talk to Evan. We made up and so I went over to his place. I told him how Nate kissed me and that it definitely meant nothing. He was concerned and jealous but pretended he wasn't I also told him I was worried that I would lose Izzie as a friend.  
“I, like, love her. We just got so close so quickly, faster than I’ve done with any friend. I just want things to be alright. I need everything to be alright,” I told Evan.

He was probably sick of me talking to him about it but it was all I could think about. I just wanted to make sure that everything between me and her would be okay. I thought about texting her and checking in but she said she needed some time so I decided I'd wait and just talk to her at school the next day.

I went through a couple of classes without seeing Izzie. I decided to wait at a bench near her locker. When I saw her coming, I tried to say hi but she ignored me. I approached her at her locker.

“Hey. How’d things go with Nate?”  
No response.  
“Did you break up with him?”  
“No.”  
“Oh. Why not?”  
“Because he told me that you kissed him.”  
“What? No. I didn’t kiss him, Izzie.”  
“Yeah, well that’s not what he said.”  
“Izzie, I swear…”  
“I… don’t know what to believe.”  
“Believe me!”  
“He’s my boyfriend Casey.” There was the true nail in the coffin. She called me Casey. “I’m sorry.”

Nate approached her, wrapped his arm around her, and they walked away leaving me in the middle of the hall, friendless and heartbroken.


	5. I Just Want My Girl Back

It had been a week since Izzie talked to me. I was going crazy. I missed her so much. I just hung out with Evan a lot instead, even though I wanted to hang out with her. Evan was over after school and we went to the kitchen where I was convincing him to try my favorite snack.

“Go on. Try it."

Evan apprehensively dipped his string cheese stick in a glass of apple juice. He brought it up to his mouth, hesitated, then took a bite. Izzie would have totally just tried it without any hesitation.

"It tastes like cheese dipped in apple juice.”  
“Exactly! Izzie totally would have loved this.”

Evan teased me about missing my friends. I pretended that I didn’t but I really, really did. I just didn’t know what to do without Izzie. I missed being able to text her about some funny shit my brother said, or tell her about what new, crazy shit my mom has done, or to help her out when her mom’s boyfriend is causing problems again. I just wanted to talk to her but she hadn’t spoken a single word to me since she called me Casey. At first, I really hated the nickname Newton, but it really grew on me, especially every time Izzie said it. 

The next day before track practice I went to grab my shoes out of my locker. I caught a glimpse of white where there shouldn’t have been and found that someone wrote “Slut” and “Ho” on my shoes. I hid my shoes from the rest of the team as they walked past me. I scrubbed and scrubbed with hot water and soap at the words as tears poured down my face, but the words, they wouldn’t leave. I decided to skip practice that day and went straight home in my now soaked shoes. I tossed them in the dryer and went upstairs to my room. I’m sure I cried for hours before I finally collapsed from exhaustion. 

When I woke up the next morning, I decided to take a quick shower to wash away the obvious fact that I had been crying. When I came back to my room, I saw a box on my bed. I eyed it cautiously before opening it. Inside were brand new shoes, even better than the ones I had before. I looked around for a note or something and saw my mom waiting in the doorway.

“I wanted to say screw those girls on these shoes but I wasn’t sure if it would fit.”  
“Thanks Mom.”

I walked over to her and gave her a hug. It was weird that she was actually doing something for me. She usually only does that when she wants something in return. I hoped that wouldn’t be the case here. She left the room and I finished getting ready and went to school.

~~~~~

The next week was more of the exact same thing. Going to school, struggling through classes, having no friends to talk to or eat lunch with, going to track practice where no one talked to me, then going home or going over to Evan’s to hang out. My life was super exciting. I loved it so much. It was Thursday that week and I was absolutely dreading it. There wasn’t anything wrong with Thursday’s in general, but more specifically I was dreading that Thursday. It was my birthday, one of the days I hated most each year, but this year especially. I wasn’t in the mood for any of Sam’s ritual stuff. I didn’t want any friends over except maybe Sharice and Evan and I didn’t want my parents or brother celebrating anything. I just wanted a relaxed night in, maybe some chocolate, and to not think about my shitty life for one second. All of that was shot when Sam was waking me up at 3:15 in the morning, like he does every year. Part of the ritual.

“Happy birth minute Casey!” he shouted as he honked one of those noisemakers.   
“Get out,” I said groggily.  
“Nope. It’s your 16th birthday this year so that means 16 happy birthdays. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday.” 

I managed to finally get up and shoved him out of my room.

“But Casey, I didn’t finish all your happy birthdays!” he shouted from outside the door.  
“I don’t care!”

I laid back down, but was distracted when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Sam saying happy birthday. Seconds after, I got two more texts from him also saying happy birthday. I gave a weak smile and went back to sleep for as long as I could before having to get ready. I woke up a few hours later and started to get ready for school. Sam made me have some of the terrible chocolate milk he made as part of the ritual. I had a sip for him, but once he left the kitchen, I immediately dumped the rest down the sink. Thankfully, that was the last of the ritual until we got home after school so I could just forget that it was my birthday for a few hours. It was weird to go to school at Clayton Prep and have no one recognize that today was my birthday. Sharice wasn’t here to decorate my locker with streamers and a poster. The Newton track team wasn’t here to sing happy birthday to me in the cafeteria. Beth wasn’t here to give me some kind of birthday sweet. Nobody did anything, which was actually really nice. I just wanted a regular day and I definitely didn’t want any of these people to do anything because I’m sure they would have made it a joke and used it as yet another way to torment me. I was glad no one knew it was my birthday because I could pass under the radar here. After track practice, my dad picked me up and asked what I was doing tonight. I told him I just wanted to hang out with Sharice and Evan and have a quiet night in with snacks and to forget about everything else. We pulled into the driveway and the entire house was dark, which never happened. Christopher, my mom’s friend’s kid was sitting outside, so I was extra suspicious. 

“Hey Christopher. What are you doing out here?”  
“There’s a surprise party for you inside but I don’t like loud noises or parties.”  
“Great.”

I tried pleading with my dad to not make me go inside, but he made me and told me to act surprised. I walked in and everyone stood up from wherever they had been hiding and shouted “Surprise”. I was pretty pissed at the she-beast. She knew I didn’t want anything big. I just wanted to hang out with Sharice and Evan and maybe have sex with Evan later. That was it. I didn’t ask for much, and I still couldn’t even get that. I was hungry so I decided I would have some snacks before dealing with all the people here or my mom. I went upstairs and changed into something much more comfortable before coming back downstairs and dancing with Sharice and Evan. Sam annoyingly kept telling me that we needed to play “Ickle Bickle Beanstalk” but I yelled at him because I didn’t want to play. I was trying to have some fun by dancing with Sharice and Evan but Sam kept interrupting it with his ritual that I really didn’t give a shit about. He started to panic which made me feel bad for yelling at him so I hugged him until he calmed down. I compromised with him and told him we would play in a little bit. He gave me 16 minutes, because it was my 16th birthday, so I went back to dancing for a while. When that time was up, Sam came to remind me and we did our weird dance we would do every one of my birthdays until I heard the door open and heard a specific laugh, one from none other than Izzie. I stopped dancing when I realized that it was Izzie and the track team at the door. I went into the kitchen to find my mother who was talking with Evan.

“What the hell mom? You invited the Clayton track team?”  
“They showed up? Oh, that’s great honey.”  
“No, it’s not. I hate them. I didn’t even want this stupid party. I just wanted a quiet night in, but even my birthday can’t be about me.”  
Evan butted in. “Casey, it was a nice thing your mom did. She brought everyone together. We’re all here to celebrate your birthday.”  
“Who’s side are you even on Evan, cuz it sure doesn’t seem like mine!”  
“There are no sides, Casey. I’m just saying, your mom did a nice thing, Casey. Stop being such a brat.”

I was speechless for a moment. I knew Evan was usually a good, sweet guy, but that was shitty. 

I stomped out of the room and into the hallway where Sam was still bugging me about the ickle bickle. I felt bad but I shouted at Sam. I didn't even remember what I said. I was just mad. Mad that my mom had this party. Mad that Evan was being a dick and so unsupportive. Mad that Sam takes up so much space in my life that I feel like I can't take up any. Mad about the track team and Izzie. I looked up at all of them and Izzie locked eyes with me. We held each other's gaze before my anger had me retreating to my bedroom. I slammed my door so hopefully Elsa would hear how annoyed I was. I flopped onto my bed and screamed into my pillow for a bit. That helped but definitely not enough. I was still mad. There was a knock on the door.

"If it's Mom or Evan go away!"

The door opened anyway and I sighed waiting to have a conversation I didn't want to have.

"Hey." I immediately sat up and saw Izzie looking cautiously at me. "Can I come in?"  
"Okay."  
She closed the door behind her. "Sam's running around out there excited about that creepy gorilla."  
"It's the ickle bickle."  
"Yeah that's what he told me." She got closer to the bed. "I like you guys."

I just rolled my eyes and looked away. I was still pretty pissed about everything that happened.

"Dude, I'm sorry." 

Izzie sat next to me. The second she got comfortable on my bed, I found myself relaxing. Something about her presence calmed me. She continued.

"About everything. I was a dick and I got jealous. I was just afraid of losing someone that I… love."  
"Iz, I would never come between you and Nate."  
"Screw him, I was afraid of losing you." She looked me in the eyes.  
"Oh."

I couldn't think of what else to say. Izzie said she loves me. I love her too, but suddenly I had butterflies in my stomach. I didn't have a chance to think about it for too long though.

"I just, before you got to Clayton, I just felt so out of place, like I couldn't be myself. And with Nate, our lives are just so different."  
"Yeah like he's a huge douche and you're not?"  
"Yes!"

We both chuckled at that. I bit my lip slightly, happy that my best friend was going to be back in my life, that I was the one she cared about losing, not Nate. I cared so much about her too, I could never lose her. I would be absolutely devastated if I did.

"Then you and I got into that big fight and we stopped talking." My face fell at the mention of our fight. I didn't want to think about it. It hurt to much. "And I missed you." I looked back at her. "I like, really, really missed you." I gave Izzie a small smile. She turned away before looking me in the eyes again. "I just want my girl back." I smiled a bit bigger but couldn't help but panic a bit at 'my girl.' What did that mean? Izzie turned her head away dismissively. "Sorry if that sounds stalkerish."  
"It does," I told her. We both chuckled slightly and looked away for a moment before finding each other's eyes again. "But I feel the same so… it's cool."

Izzie looked like she was contemplating something and I wondered what she was thinking.

"Let's forehead promise to never leave each other."  
"Okay," I said tentatively. I wasn't sure where this was going but I was willing to go along with whatever she wanted because I didn't want her to ever leave again. "What is that?"  
"Come here. I'll show you."

Izzie stood up momentarily to move closer and face me. I rotated a bit to look at her too. Her hand settled very close to my knee and suddenly I was aware of how close we were. Izzie leaned into me and pressed her forehead into mine. We both laughed a bit. A little unsure of what was happening but enjoying the moment. I watched Izzie move the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. 

"That's it." She put her hair behind her ear again. She seemed nervous. I was too. "Is it obvious that I just made this up?" 

We held each other's gaze for a bit while we laughed again. I wasn't sure why we were laughing. Maybe because we were just both nervous and unsure of what was happening. The laughter stopped and I saw Izzie look down at my lips then back at my eyes then back down. I felt a lump in my throat as I looked down at her lips. They were plump, her lip gloss shimmered slightly in the moonlight coming through my bedroom window. Before I knew what was happening, we both leaned in closer. My eyes fluttered shut. Our noses brushed against each other for a second before Izzie pulled just a sliver back. She leaned in again. Our noses touched. I could feel her breath on my lips. My breathing got more shallow. Suddenly the door opened up.

"Hey Casey…"  
Izzie and I separated immediately and sat as far away from each other as my bed would allow. "Mom…"  
"Oh sorry. I just, uh, wanted to let you know that cake is ready."  
"Yeah. We'll be down in a second."  
"Hi Mrs. Gardner."

My mom closed the door and left. Izzie and I just sat there awkwardly for a moment. I couldn't believe what had nearly happened. Izzie was my best friend. There's no way I could like her like that. I mean, of course I love her, but that's because she's my best friend. I love Sharice too. Something felt off about that but I didn't know why. And Evan. Of course Evan. I stood up abruptly.

"Right, so we should get down there."  
"Yeah okay."

Izzie looked like she wanted to say more but didn't. We left my room and walked downstairs where I saw Evan waiting. 

"Hey, sorry I was being lame earlier," I told him.

I was still mad at him but that didn't matter right now because I needed to be reassured. Of what? I wasn't exactly sure, but I knew I needed to kiss him right then and there. The kiss was deep and I could feel Izzie's eyes boring into the back of my head as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I pulled away and saw out of the corner of my eye that Izzie was walking away with her head down. I tried really hard not to feel bad about that. Evan and I walked hand in hand over to where everyone had circled up. I ended up standing between him and Izzie but I didn't dare look at her. Everyone started to sing Happy Birthday, but my mom stopped them because she surprisingly remembered I hate that song so Sam had everyone sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star instead. It was sweet and I appreciated it. Sharice came up to me and wrapped her arm around me so she was between me and Izzie. I didn't want to be that far from her, but I was still thankful for it. After eating cake, everyone left so Sam and I went up to his room for my favorite part of the birthday ritual: his comic. Sam has always been a really good artist and his comics are really great too. They were always about the two of us going on some adventure. We read the comic together before I decided to go to bed. I was beat and couldn't deal with all the thoughts going through my head. Not that sleep helped. I dreamt about Izzie all night.


	6. The World Is Our Oyster

Izzie’s hand was on my thigh. We were sitting at the edge of my bed. I noticed that Izzie kept looking from my eyes down to my lips. I did the same. We locked eyes for a moment and truly realized that we were thinking the same thing. Izzie licked her lips. I could feel my heart beating inside my chest. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered. We started to inch even closer. Our noses touched. I closed my eyes. I could feel each breath as our lips were millimeters apart. We leaned in closer and just as our lips were about to touch, I jolted awake. My heart pounded heavily against my ribcage. I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried to take deep breaths but it took a while to calm down. I checked my phone and saw that it was still pretty early so I went for a run before school. Just a couple miles so I could get my dream out of my head. It worked for a while until I came home and took a shower and all those thoughts were back. After getting dressed for school, breakfast at least proved to be a distraction for me since Sam was still insisting no one help him so he could be independent. I enjoyed watching Sam try to do everything on his own. I had forgotten about everything until I got a text from Izzie. 

'Newton! We still on for studying tonight?'

I didn't think I could be in the same room as her by ourselves right now. I was afraid something would happen like it almost did last night.

'Sorry can't. Family stuff.'

I felt bad for lying but I couldn't tell her the truth. Nothing could happen between us even though last night I really wanted it to. I had Evan. Sweet Evan. I couldn't do what my mom did to my dad. I couldn't do that to him. So for once I guess I was glad that my mom had entered my room unannounced. Otherwise, I might have kissed Izzie. I could have cheated. I tried not to think about that. Instead I sent Evan a text telling him to come over tonight. 

In school, I avoided Izzie as much as I could without being too obvious. Thankfully I was pretty successful and only had to see her during track practice, though that gave me problems too. Coach had us working really hard so there wasn't much time to talk but I started noticing other things. I caught myself staring at Izzie whenever I wasn't running. I noticed how strong her thighs and calves looked. They were extremely toned and so were her arms. For once I was grateful for practice to be over. I couldn’t deal with all of the feelings that were suddenly sprouting out of me. Izzie tried to talk to me but I told her I had to hurry home. I went home and quickly changed out of my uniform and into something less scratchy and restricting. Not long after I changed, Evan knocked on my bedroom door. I opened it up and let him in. We had some music playing but were looking through my records to find something else to listen to when I got a text from Izzie.

'How's family time?'

'Same old, same old.'

I really felt bad for lying now but I definitely couldn't tell her I lied and that I have Evan over now. She would be so mad. I set my phone down and looked at my bed. It reminded me of last night and my dream. I really wanted to stop thinking about that so I stood up. 

"We’re okay, right?”  
“Yeah, why?”  
“Well… you never gave me my birthday present," I reminded Evan.  
"Yeah I did. I gave you that neckl…" He finally caught on to what I was saying. "Oh!" He tossed the records onto the floor behind him which I wasn't exactly happy about. Those records cost a lot and he just tossed them like they were nothing. But it was still kind of funny so I laughed. He kissed me and asked if I was sure. I just nodded and we both fell onto the bed.

~~~~~

The day of Sam's graduation came around pretty quickly. We were in the car heading to the school when Izzie texted me. We had barely talked all week which was the break from her I needed. I mean I missed her so much so it really sucked but I wasn't thinking about that night anymore so everything seemed to be working. She sent me a picture of the two of us together.

'Found this on my phone haha'

It was the day we went to the beach together like a week after we became friends. I thought fondly back to that moment but Sam's incessant nudging shook me out of it. I elbowed him back as I texted her back. I felt like I could finally see her again without any problems.

'Hang out later?'

Sam and I kept arguing about whose side whose arm was on until I finally had enough so I licked him. Sam yelled and asked for a napkin. Mom looked around for a while trying to find one until she pulled some piece of paper out of Dad's jacket pocket. I couldn't make out what it said but I could definitely tell something was going on between the two of them. Mom told Sam to just wipe his arm off on the gown. We parked and I put that weird moment between my parents out of my mind and walked with Sam into the school. He left to go sit with all the other kids graduating so I found Zahid, who was waiting with seats saved for everyone. I talked to him for a bit before Evan and my parents sat down. I checked my phone and saw Izzie had replied.

'Yes definitely!'

'Cool. I'll pick you up after Sam's graduation. See ya later'

'Yep. See ya Newton!'

I hadn't realized just how much I missed hearing her say that nickname. I put my phone away.

"Hey. Wanna see if the band room is unlocked after this? I think they have a couch in there."  
I punched him slightly. "Gross. No. I told Izzie that I would hang out with her but maybe you could come over after?"  
"Okay."

Mrs. Whitaker came onto the stage soon after and quieted everyone down. She made a speech about how great the students this year are, how much they've accomplished, and how they're going to all go out into the world and do great things. She eventually called Paige up to the stage, who I happened to notice walked in late, which was so unlike her. We all clapped for a while but Paige never went up to the stage. I wondered what was happening. Eventually, it wasn't Paige who went up to give the valedictorian speech, but it was Sam. All of us were surprised. I knew this could either go really poorly or be pretty funny and go well. For Sam's sake, I hoped for the latter. And it did. Sam went up there and read word for word Paige's speech, including the stage directions and the part about blossoming into a young woman. It was great. He did a really great job and when he was done, we all stood up and shouted and cheered. I was so proud of him. He really had come a long way this past year. It was amazing. Sam sat back down and Mrs. Whitaker said they all had officially graduated. We whooped and cheered again. Sam met up with us after a bit and we all went and got ice cream to celebrate. We mostly talked about all that Sam had accomplished throughout high school and what he was going to do at Denton. Even though I would miss him so much, I was very excited for him to go. College would be really good for him. We finished eating our ice cream and went home. Dad let me take the truck after so I messaged Izzie and told her I was on my way. I got to her house and she was already waiting outside. I briefly worried there was something going on inside and that she came out here and waited instead but Izzie had a pretty big smile on her face so it didn't seem too likely.

"Hey Newton!" Izzie said excitedly as she gave me a hug. I hugged her back and noticed how her hair smelled like cherries. We pulled away after a second too long.

"So Iz, where to? The world is our oyster."  
"This is gonna sound dumb, but could we go to 7-11 and get a slurpee? I've been craving one all weekend."  
"Yeah definitely. Sounds good to me."

We made it to the nearby 7-11 but when we got to the slurpee machine, I noticed Izzie was pouting.

"What is it?"  
"It's nothing. It's fine."  
"Come on Iz, tell me."  
"They just, don't have my favorite flavor."  
"What is your favorite flavor?"  
"Cotton candy."  
"Come on. Let's go then."

I grabbed her hand to leave. I probably shouldn't have done that. My heart raced immediately after I did but I still held her hand until we got to the truck.

"We'll go to every 7-11 until we find one with cotton candy slurpees. I promise."  
"Thanks," Izzie said with a soft smile.

It took stopping at three more 7-11's until we finally found the elusive cotton candy flavor we were looking for. Izzie was ecstatic. I was glad to have been the one to make her that happy. We took our slurpees and sat in the truck in the parking lot with them.

"Thanks for driving multiple towns away to get us these slurpees."  
"Yeah of course."

We were quiet for a bit. I'm not totally sure what compelled me to say it but I decided to tell her anyway.

"So I had sex again."  
Izzie didn't respond for a bit. "With Evan?"  
"No. With myself. Still counts, right?"

We both chuckled at that before being serious.

"Yes with Evan." I paused for a moment. "I really love him."  
"I know you do."  
I tried to fight really hard whatever I have been feeling the past week but I couldn't do it anymore. "But sometimes something just feels so… right."

My mouth was dry. I shouldn't have said that. What if she doesn't feel this too? What if what happened in my bedroom was nothing and I was reading into it wrong? I saw Izzie's left hand fall down to her side out of the corner of my eye. Our hands were so close. I could grab hers with mine if I wanted. My pinky found itself stretching out before I could overthink what I was doing. Izzie did the same and eventually our pinkies interlocked. My breath was short and my heart hammered. I felt like everyone could hear it even a mile away. I kept my eyes looking forward. We both slowly made more contact until eventually our entire hands were interlocked. We sat there like that for a while, both too afraid to look each other in the eye and ruin the moment. I felt my phone buzz but never let go of Izzie's hand. It was Evan. I had totally forgotten that I told him he could come over tonight. My free hand hovered over the answer and decline buttons. I had to choose. I hesitated before ignoring his call and put my phone back into my pocket. I still didn't look at Izzie but I could have sworn I heard her breathe a sigh of relief.


	7. Follow Your Heart

We sat in the truck for another ten minutes not saying anything or looking at each other. We just occasionally took a sip of our slurpees but never spoke. I shifted slightly in my seat and that was enough to break the moment. We pulled our hands away. Izzie put hers in her pocket and I started the ignition. I turned the radio up a bit to try and drown out my thoughts but it was hard to do with Izzie still sitting there not saying anything. I drove silently to Izzie's house. I was thankful that the house was quiet because I wouldn't let Izzie stay if there was something going on but I didn't think I could handle her sleeping over tonight. It would be too much. There was too much that I wasn't ready to think about. My mouth opened and closed a few times, not sure what to say. Izzie decided to say it all for me.

"Bye Newton. Don't disappear on me this summer. Gotta stay fit for fall. Text me if you wanna run together."

Izzie leaned in to hug me. I was enveloped in the cherries again as I hugged her back. We held that hug for longer than normal, like neither of us were ready to let go, but Izzie eventually pulled away.

"Bye," she said as she got out of the truck.

I watched her walk up to the door. She opened the door but turned to look back at me before she went inside. We shared a look, but I couldn't decipher what she was thinking or what I was feeling. She gave a small wave and went inside. I sat in the truck for a bit before finally heading back home. The house seemed empty when I got there which I was thankful for because I didn't really want to talk to anyone. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of snacks before going up to my room. I wrapped a couple of blankets around me, opened up my computer, and started watching some old TV show I had seen a million times before. I finally looked at my phone again and saw I had another missed call and two texts from Evan.

Hey  
You said I could come over tonight. Is that still on?

I sighed. Today had already been too much for me, but I still felt bad.

Sorry. Izzie and I lost track of time. I just got home but I'm beat. It was a long day. Raincheck?

Yeah. Of course. Love you

I didn't respond. I didn't have the energy to. I let the show play until I finally fell asleep, thankful to get out of my head for a while.

~~~~~

It was finally truly summer and I was thankful to be able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. So for the first week of summer I spent my time running, hanging out with Sam and Sharice, and ignoring Izzie and Evan because it was all too much with them. I kept making a bunch of lame excuses that I'm sure they both saw through immediately, but thankfully neither of them said anything. I felt horrible about it all. I shouldn't have even been thinking about Izzie like that when I'm with Evan. I love him. But I don't know. There's just something… there with Izzie. It’s something different, but I don't know what it is and I definitely don't know what to do about it. A part of me just wants it to go away, to never think about it again and another part wants to explore it and figure out what it means.

My dad had a couple's days off work and whenever he does he goes with me on my morning runs but for his sake, I don't make him leave as early or run as long as I do when I run by myself. We ran for a couple of miles before my dad has us stop by a bench on the path. He sat down. I looked at him questioningly but he just patted the spot next to him signaling for me to sit down so I did. He turned and faced me more so I did the same.

"What's going on kid?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"You usually talk my ear off on these runs. You usually have something or other to say about Evan or Izzie or track or well anything. You usually talk to me but you haven't said a word."  
"Oh sorry," I replied dismissively. I could barely let myself think about it all, let alone say it all out loud.  
"Come on Case. Talk to me. Is it something with Mom?"  
"No."  
"Okay. How about Evan?"  
"Sort of…"  
"Well, what does that mean? Did you two have a fight or something?"  
"No."  
"Then what happened kiddo?"  
I took a deep breath. "I love Evan. I really do. He's nice and cute and sweet and everything I could want in a boyfriend."  
"But…?"  
"But, I have feelings for someone else too. Does that make me a bad person?"  
"No Casey. It doesn't."  
"I just feel like a terrible person because, well, I didn’t ask for these feelings. And I don’t even know what they are. And I don't want to do what Mom did to you. I can't do that to Evan. But… I almost did. I almost kissed her."

I quickly slapped my hand to my mouth. I mentally smacked myself on the head. That's not how I meant to tell him about it but now that it was out, I couldn't take it back.

"Her huh?... Is it Izzie?"  
"Yeah…"  
"What happened between you two?"  
"It was at my birthday. Mom and Evan had pissed me off so I went up to my room. Izzie followed after and apologized about everything that happened because of Nate. And I don't know. We just got really close and we almost kissed but then Mom walked in. I think I would have kissed her if she didn’t. And now… I don't know. I don’t know what I want or what to do. I just don't want to hurt anyone."  
"Casey…" he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Even though I was still filled with turmoil, this was the safest and most relaxed I felt so far this summer. "You're going to have to be honest with yourself sooner or later. Someone might get hurt, but I think you're thinking too much about everyone else rather than what you want or need. You just have to follow your heart. If you don't, then it'll be you who gets hurt."  
I rested my head against him and he pulled me in closer. "Thanks Dad."  
"Anytime kid. Now how about we finish this run and I get us some ice cream."  
"Deal."

We ran home and changed before leaving. We decided to grab some pizza first, then get ice cream. I was glad to have a day like that. It was exactly what I needed. My dad was always good at cheering me up and helping me figure things out. He always knew what to say or do. It felt like my dad and I didn't get to have many days like this anymore so it made me appreciate the day even more. Sam got home from work around the same time we got back from lunch and we all decided to watch a movie together. I didn't really pay much attention because I was too busy thinking about my own problems but I appreciated their company. Talking with my dad made it clear what I had to do but I decided to give myself a break and wait to do it until tomorrow.


	8. You Missed A Spot

I was dreading every second of this. No matter what I tried to prepare to say, nothing sounded right. Still, I managed to find the strength I needed, went outside, and started to run to my destination. I wanted to chicken out. In the short term, that would be the easier thing. Just leave things the way they are, but in this case, the easy thing isn't the right thing. I slowed down as I reached the steps. He was already sitting out there. 

"Hey Case. Did you run all the way here?" He leaned in for a kiss but I just let him kiss my cheek instead.  
"Uh, yeah I did."  
"Do you want to sit?"  
"No, I don't think so."  
"Oh, okay. Well, what did you want to talk about? You sounded pretty serious on the phone."  
"Yeah. Right. Well… okay. So, uhm, I needed to tell you, that I love you, I love you so much. I really do. But… I think I have feelings for someone else."  
He was speechless for a moment. "Who is it? Is it Nate?"  
"No. Definitely not. It's someone else. It's just, I feel like it isn't fair to you if my heart isn't in the same place in this relationship as you. You deserve better than that."  
"Is it Izzie?"  
I gulped heavily. "Yes."  
"Did anything happen between you two?"  
"No. Well, it almost did but I didn't know exactly what was happening. It was over before it even began."  
Evan stood up and paced. I could feel the anger raging out of him. "I feel like I don't even know who you are anymore Casey."  
"Evan…"  
“You tell me you love me, but then you want to break up with me because you have feelings for Izzie. I guess it was a rich girl I should have been worried about taking you away from me.”  
I wanted to tell him that Izzie isn’t rich, but I knew that wouldn’t make anything better. “I’m sorry, Evan. I really am. I didn’t ask for this to happen. I just need to figure out what I’m feeling and I can’t do that while we’re still together. I hope you can forgive me.”  
He let out a heavy breath. "I just, I need some time."  
"Okay. If you ever find out that you can, I would still want to be friends."

He didn't respond so I waved goodbye and ran off. I soon found myself pushing myself harder than I expected, especially with the tears streaming down my face. I made it home in what felt like record time. I paced outside my house until I could get the tears to stop falling. When I finally got myself to stop crying, I went inside. I laid down on my bed and looked at my phone. I was thankful I had already changed the background picture from the one of me and Evan to one of me and Sam on his graduation day. It was just too painful to look at the other picture. I opened up my texts and saw I hadn't texted Izzie in a while and when I did, it was very short. I felt really bad about that but I needed time to figure everything out. I decided to reach out even though I didn't think that was the best idea. I just broke up with Evan. I needed some time to process everything, but I missed Izzie too much not to text her still. 

'Hey Iz'

'Newton! Haven't heard from you in a while. What's up?'

I wanted to tell her about Evan and the breakup but I felt like I should maybe do that in person.

'Not much. Just got back from a run. You?'

Watching my siblings. Wanna come over? If you're not too busy I could use a little extra help. They're a little too much to handle by myself today

'Yeah sure. I can be there in 30'

'Cool. See ya in a bit Newton'

I decided to shower quickly before driving over to Izzie's. As I walked up to the door, I realized I had never actually been inside so it would be interesting to see what Izzie's house looked like. I knocked and shortly after the door swung open. Izzie's little brother answered the door.

"Are you Newton?"  
I chuckled. He looked just like Izzie and it was so cute to hear him call me Newton too. I leaned down a bit so I was closer to his height. "Yeah I'm Newton. You must be Mateo. Can I come in?"  
"Okay."

He opened the door further for me and ran off into the kitchen. I closed the door behind me and looked around a bit. Izzie's house reminded me of mine. Smaller, but filled with a lot of memories. It seemed like a nice place. After looking around for a minute, I decided to follow Mateo into the kitchen where I saw the kids sitting at the table and Izzie with her back to me cooking something on the stove. She must have sensed that I walked in because she suddenly turned around.

"Newton!"  
"Hey Iz."

She walked over to me and we hugged for a moment before she introduced me to her siblings.

"Newton, this is Mateo, Agustina, and Paloma. Guys this is my friend Newton."  
I waved at all of them. "Hey guys. Izzie's told me about you all. Wanna know what she said?"  
"Yeah!" they all shouted excitedly.  
"Well, she told me that you all like to run just like her. And that you're all very smart. But the most important thing she told me is you guys like cookies. Is that true?"  
They were practically bouncing in their seats.  
"Well I was thinking, if it's okay with Izzie, after dinner we could make cookies together. I make the best cookies."  
"Please Izzie? Please, please, please," they all begged her.  
"If you all help set the table and get ready to eat, we can make cookies after dinner."

They all shouted excitedly and started to get dishes out for everyone. I helped Izzie put food in all the dishes and we ate and the kids talked about their summer reading lists that they were all very excited about. We cleaned everything up from dinner before starting to make the cookies. Paloma was much younger than Agustina and Mateo so I picked her up and put her on my lap to help direct her in what ingredients to add and how to stir everything together. When she was mixing it all up, I looked at Izzie who was smiling cutely as she watched us. When we were done making the cookie dough, everyone helped put some on the baking pan and we put it in the oven. To help the kids be less impatient while waiting for the cookies, Izzie put on a movie for the kids in the living room and we stayed in the kitchen to watch the cookies. 

"You're really good with them." She nodded her head towards the kids. "They never like anyone this quickly."  
"I'm just good with kids I guess. Plus who wouldn't love the person who offered to make cookies with them?"  
"True…"

We were sitting on the bench by the table. Our hands both rested on it and were inches apart. I felt taken back to our moment in the truck. I could just touch her hand again. I wanted to. But I didn't know if I was ready. I hadn’t even told her about the breakup yet. Izzie broke me out of my thoughts.

"You've got some flour on your face."  
"What where?" I rubbed all around my face and Izzie just laughed. "What? Where is it?"  
"Right here." Izzie quickly dipped her hand in some flour and flicked it at me before I had the chance to stop her.   
"Hey!"

Izzie was still laughing at me so I decided to flick some flour back at her. That stopped her from laughing. We sent more flour at each other until we ended up a big mess. We both laughed for a while seeing how ridiculous we looked. Izzie got up, grabbed a couple wet towels, and sat back down. She handed one to me and we both wiped our faces off. When I was done, I went to stand up so I could wash off my hands, but Izzie put a hand on my arm to stop me. I sat back down.

"You missed a spot."

Slowly, she took her towel and brought it up to my face. I looked from her hand to her eyes and watched her. I held my breath as she softly wiped at a spot on my cheek. She held my gaze for a few moments before pulling her hand away.

"All good."  
"Thanks Iz."

We sat there for a bit longer until the timer went off. I shook my head to break the moment and decided to wash my hands off and clean up while Izzie pulled the cookies out of the oven. We let the cookies cool off before putting some on plates. We poured glasses of milk for everyone and went into the living room to sit with the kids as they watched the rest of the movie. Izzie and I originally sat next to each other on the couch but after everyone was done with their milk and cookies, they all wanted to sit between us so I slid over to let them all in. It was really cute to see Mateo snuggled up by Izzie. Paloma and Agustina snuggled by me. It was nice. Sometimes I wished I had younger siblings. I had always wanted moments like this. When the movie was over, I helped Izzie put all the kids to bed. Once we were done we both sat back down on the couch in the living room.

"So, what now?"  
"Wanna stay over? We could watch another movie?"  
"Are you sure you won't fall asleep?"  
"I swear." She made an x over her heart.  
"Okay. I'll stay."

We decided to put in a scary movie which was a terrible choice because I get really jumpy, despite telling everyone else that I'm not scared of horror movies. The movie started out fine but I started to get cold since I was in only a t-shirt and shorts. Izzie, who had wrapped herself in a big blanket, seemed to notice. She slid closer to me and offered her blanket. I slid in closer too and wrapped myself with the blanket. Her arm was pressed against mine and our hands were so close to touching. We really managed to get ourselves in this position a lot. I turned my attention back to the movie, but not long after there was a jump scare. My hand instinctively grabbed Izzie's hand. She made a slight noise of surprise but didn't pull her hand away and I didn't either. We silently held hands like that through the rest of the movie. When the movie was over we both decided we were tired. We went to her bed and laid down. It was smaller than mine so we were even closer together. I was having a hard time thinking with her this close. We laid there looking at each other, not really saying anything for a little while. There was so much I wanted to say but I was too afraid. Izzie brushed some of my hair back behind my ear and looked at me. Like the chicken I was, I didn't say or do anything, I just looked back at her.

"Goodnight Newton."

She gave me a quick smile before rolling onto her other side and promptly falling asleep. I on the other hand, was wide awake, with only Izzie on my mind.


	9. Isn't It Obvious?

I tried really hard over the next couple of days to tell Izzie about Evan. I really did, but I just couldn't get myself to say it. Maybe I wasn't ready to dive into these scary new feelings. Maybe I felt obligated to wait for a certain amount of time after the breakup before I could even think about anything happening. Either way, I decided that what I truly needed to do was talk to Sharice about it. I at least needed to tell her about the breakup. I called her and asked her to come over and hang out. She was over an hour later. It was too hot to do anything so we just laid on my bed and talked.

“Ugh. I miss having you on the team so much Casey. Yesterday, we had one of our infamously terrible summer practices and I nearly died. I missed having you tell me your awful jokes to make it slightly less miserable.”  
“Hey! My jokes aren’t terrible.”  
She set her hand on my arm apologetically. “Sorry to break it to you Case, but they are.”  
I hit her with a pillow. “Ugh, whatever. You love it.”  
“So how’s Evan?”  
I paused for a moment, unsure of where to start. “Evan and I broke up…”  
“Hold up.” She sat up dramatically to look at me. “What? Where? When? How? Why?”  
I chuckled at her response. “I went over to his house like two weeks ago and broke up with him.”  
“Two weeks ago? Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you guys break up? How are you doing?”  
“We broke up because I realized I have feelings for someone else.”  
“Oh shit, girl. Who do you have feelings for? One of those cute preppy boys?”  
“No…”  
“Then who? Spill it!”

I took a deep breath. I had a feeling Sharice wouldn’t have a problem with me liking a girl, but it was still scary to say it out loud, especially since I had only told one other person, my dad, who thankfully took it well. But that obviously didn't guarantee that anyone else would be cool with it.

“It’s Izzie.”  
“Izzie?" Sharice took a pause. "That makes so much sense.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I don’t know. Ever since you two became friends, she’s all you talk about. Plus I’ve seen the way you two look at each other.”  
“Oh.”  
“It’s cool, Case. Some girls like girls." She cringed almost as hard as I did at her words as we both realized she was being weird. "Sorry, I'm not 100% sure what to say. Just that obviously, I love you. It's cool that you like Izzie. We won't stop being friends because of it. Has anything happened between you two?”  
“Uh, not exactly.”  
“Ooh. Juicy. What did happen then?”  
“Well on my birthday we almost kissed.”  
“Really? Damn. I knew some weird vibes were coming from you two that day but I didn’t know that happened.”  
“Yeah. I don't know, just some weird moment passed between us and we almost kissed but my mom walked in so we didn't. Since then, we’ve held hands a couple of times, but that's it. I actually haven’t told her that I broke up with Evan yet.”  
“What are you waiting for?”  
“I don’t know. I just didn’t want to tell her right away after the breakup because I felt like I should wait a bit. I didn’t want to possibly start something with her immediately after. That felt too quick. And now, now I think I’m just afraid. It’s been a while. What if she doesn’t like me like that anymore? What if she never did? What if…”  
“Dude, you just gotta go for it. I’m pretty sure Izzie likes you back, but if you don’t do anything about it, you’ll never know.”  
“Ugh, I hate that you’re right.”  
“Just tell her that you want to hang out tomorrow, because you can’t hang out with her today since you’re with me.”

I pulled out my phone and sent Izzie a text right away.

'Hey Iz. You free tomorrow?'

'She responded pretty much right away.'

'Newton! Yeah. I have to watch the kids until 12 but I’m free after that.'

'Cool. I’ll come get you at 1 okay?'

'Sounds good. See ya then!'

I put my phone away and Sharice and I talked about all the things I was missing at Newton until she went home. I spent the night tossing and turning trying to think of what to do the next day. Nothing I could come up with seemed right. So much had been leading up to this and everything I could think of didn't seem like the right choice. I finally fell asleep but still hadn't settled on anything. 

The next morning I woke up pretty early, mostly because of nerves. I wanted that day to go perfectly with Izzie. I went on a run with my dad. I tried not to act differently but he caught on pretty quickly that my mind was occupied.

"Hey Case, what's up? Something on your mind?" he said as he pulled me to the side of the road.  
"No, not really…"  
"Come on Casey…"  
"Okay, fine. Well… Evan and I broke up.”  
“Oh. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”  
“Can it be both?” I asked unsurely.  
“Of course. Why is it though?”  
“I feel bad about breaking up with him for something I barely even understand. I also miss him a lot. He became a really good friend, not just a boyfriend. But I really like Izzie and I need to figure that out.”  
“Have you talked to Izzie?”  
“I’ve tried but I’ve chickened out every time.”  
“How come?”  
I thought about that for a moment. “I guess I’m just scared.”  
“I know putting yourself out there is scary, but it’s worth it.”  
“But what if it all goes to shit?”  
“Case, I honestly don’t think it will. But if it does, then at least you gave it your best shot.”  
“Ugh, why does this have to be so hard?”  
“The things we want most in life tend to be the most difficult to get.”  
We both chuckled as my bumped my shoulder into his arm. “Why do you have to be so right?”  
“Because I’m your dad.”

We sat quietly for a few minutes after that. The wind rustled through the trees. I listened to the water flow in the creek behind us.

“So do you have a plan?” he asked me.  
“Not really.”  
He set his hand reassuringly on my shoulder. “I know you’ll figure it out kid.”  
“Thanks Dad.”

I gave him a big hug. We left after that and ran all the way home. I went into the shower immediately and took a nice long shower. It helped relax me, but only a little. After I was done, I went to my bedroom to decide what to wear. It probably took me an hour or so of trying different things on until I was happy with my outfit. I left way earlier than I needed to to get to Izzie’s house. I needed time to think before I got to Izzie’s but I needed to be by myself, which I was not at home. I took my time driving to try to formulate any sort of plan or idea of what to do when I saw her today, but nothing would flesh out. I decided I would have to go with the flow but that I absolutely had to tell her that Evan and I broke up and I would figure out what to do after that. I still got to Izzie’s house thirty minutes early so I decided to drive around and check out the neighborhood a bit. After going a few blocks away, I found a park. It had a playground that kind of looked like the one near my old elementary school. I parked the truck and walked over to one of the swings. I sat down and kicked my feet off the ground and let myself just enjoy the motion and the cool breeze against my face. I tried to use the time to plan, but I just couldn’t figure it out so I just cleared my head as much as I could until I had to drive back to Izzie’s. By the end of the very short drive, I had become very anxious. I was so nervous. I didn’t want to screw anything up. I almost didn’t park the truck and just drove home, but I knew that would definitely screw things up. I got out of the truck and rang the doorbell. I rubbed my sweaty palms off on my shorts as I waited for the door to open. To my surprise, it was Mateo who answered the door. 

“Newton!” He wrapped his arms excitedly around my leg. 

I couldn’t help but giggle that he also uses the nickname Izzie gave me. I bent down to give him a hug too.  
“Hey Mateo. How are you?”  
“So good! Izzie let us watch a movie and play outside and she made pancakes for breakfast!”  
“Pancakes? I love pancakes. I should have been here for breakfast.”  
“Yeah you should have Newton. I make the best pancakes.” Izzie said as she approached the two of us.

I tried to stand up to give her a hug too but Mateo pulled me back down to him. He stretched out his arms to show me he wanted me to pick him up so I did.

“You’re two of my favorite people,” Izzie told us as she hugged the both of us. “Mateo, you should go to the living room. Grandma is starting another movie.”

I set him down so he could go. 

“Ooh! I hope it’s Mulan!” he shouted as he ran off.  
“It’s his favorite, obviously,” Izzie told me.  
“I figured. So…”  
“So…”  
“You wanna go for a walk? It’s really nice outside.”  
“Yeah. Let me tell my grandma, then we can go.”

Izzie was gone and back in a minute. We left, but I didn’t tell Izzie where we were going. In fact, I didn’t say anything. I was trying not to be nervous, but I was. I was very nervous. I ran my hands over my shorts again. Izzie’s hand brushed against my arm. 

“Newton, what’s up?  
That shook me out of my head. “What? What do you mean?”  
“You’re not saying anything. And you look, like, really anxious.”  
“Oh sorry.”  
“Is something wrong?”  
“No, no. I just want… to get where we’re going, that’s all.”  
“We’re going somewhere specific? Where?”  
“You’ll see,” I told her.

The park wasn’t too much farther away. I saw Izzie’s face light up when she saw the park. She looked so cute. I was also glad that no one else was there so it’d be just the two of us.

“Are we going to the park?” she asked with a huge smile on her face.  
“Yes.” My smile grew equally as big. “Race ya?”  
“No, we sh…” 

Just like that, she was off. I should have known she would do it.

“Hey, no fair!”

I started running too. I could have caught up to her but I decided to let her win. Her smile made it totally worth it.

“Hah. I beat you,” she said triumphantly.  
“Only because you had a head start.”

I nudged her with my shoulder and she nudged me back. 

“Wanna go to the swings?” I asked.  
“Yes!”

We walked over and started swingin. Like with most things we do, we started competing. We tried to see who could swing the highest. We were both swinging as high as we could but it was pretty even.

“Wanna jump?” I asked mischievously.  
“Hell yeah.”

Together we counted to three then jumped. I rolled after landing and managed to find myself right on top of Izzie. I watched her chest rise up and down with each jagged breath. I looked into her eyes and felt taken back to the night of my birthday. Her eyes flickered between mine and my lips. I leaned in but paused a moment when our noses touched. I looked back up to her eyes but they were focused only on my lips. I closed the space between us and kissed her. Her lips were so soft. The kiss was gentle and tentative at first, but everything that had lead up to that moment heated our kiss up quickly. I kissed her more passionately until the sudden sound of a siren had us break the kiss. We let the siren pass, but the moment was gone now. I got up and sat next to Izzie and she sat up too. I watched as she let some sand sift through her fingers. We were quiet for some time, both of us unsure of what to say before Izzie finally broke the quiet. 

“So… I don’t really know what to say. I mean, what about Evan?”  
“What about him?”   
“Come on, Newton. This shouldn’t have happened. You have Evan. We shouldn’t have done this. You didn’t want to cheat on him, but we just kissed.”  
“You can’t cheat on a boyfriend you don’t have.”  
That stopped Izzie in her tracks. “Wait… what?”  
“Evan and I broke up.”  
“What? When?”  
I felt bad, but I wasn’t going to lie. “A couple of weeks ago…”  
“Weeks?! And you didn’t tell me? I mean, I know things have been… weird, to say the least, but we’re still best friends. Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I really, really wanted to, I did. I tried a few times even. But I couldn’t get the words to come out. I guess I was just afraid to tell you because I was scared what that meant for us. I needed time to be sure what I really wanted.”  
“And what’s that?”

Izzie started to nervously run sand through her fingers again. I decided to take her hand in mine.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. She smiled shyly. “Is this what you want?”

Now I was the one who was nervous. I knew what I wanted but there was still a part of me that was concerned that she didn’t want this too. She must have picked up on my anxiety because suddenly her lips were on mine. It was a chaste kiss, but one I welcomed. She pulled away, but kept our foreheads pressed together.

“Does that answer your question?”  
“I don’t know. You should kiss me again. Then I’ll be really sure.”

Izzie shook her head and chuckled, but kissed me again. I ran my hand through her hair and pulled her closer to me. We deepened the kiss. Izzie traced my bottom lip with her tongue. I parted my lips as she slipped her tongue inside my mouth. We kissed like that for a while longer before stopping to breathe.

"I can run a marathon or a 100 meter sprint or both even and be less winded than I am right now," I admitted.  
"It's because of how hot I am…" she said with a wink. I nudged her playfully. "Glad you agree." She smirked. "You're hot too."  
"I totally want to keep kissing you, but we should probably stop making out in the middle of this playground," I told her.  
"You're probably right…"

She stood up and held her hand out for me. I took it to stand up but never let go. We walked back to Izzie's house hand in hand. When we got there, we saw that her siblings were down for a nap so we went to her bedroom. Izzie shut the door behind us.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.  
"This."

She closed the distance between us and kissed me. My hands settled on her hips while her hands were in my hair. I pulled her hips closer to mine so there was no more space in between us. She pushed me backwards until the back of my knees hit the bed. I broke from the kiss to lay down on the bed. Izzie was on top of me shortly after. Her hips were right on top of mine. She kissed me deeply again as I ran my hands up and down her back. She kissed my cheek and then my ear. She nipped at it softly, then kissed my neck. She sucked on a few spots but never too long to give me a hickey. She kissed down to my collar bone. There was a soft knock on Izzie's door and we both pulled away quickly.

"Izzie, you there?" It was Mateo.  
"We could just pretend we're not here," she told me.  
I smiled. "No, we can't. Go open the door."

She went to get off the bed but not before kissing me once more. Izzie opened the door and picked up Mateo.

"Hey bud. What's going on? Bad dream?" He nodded his head as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Wanna come cuddle with us in here? We'll put on a movie."  
"Mhmm."

Izzie set him down on the bed and he laid down next to me. She put on a movie, got into the bed next to Mateo, and covered us all in a blanket. Mateo almost instantly passed out. Izzie and I whispered so we wouldn't wake him.

"He's so cute," I told her.  
"Yeah. He really likes you, you know. All my siblings do. Those cookies really worked their magic."  
"What can I say? I guess I just have a way with all the Santiago kids." I gave her a small wink.  
"You really do…"  
"As cute as he is, maybe next time we should hang out at my house. That way we won't get interrupted."  
"Good idea."

We spent the rest of the day together watching movies and eating snacks until we fell asleep.


End file.
